Amy Hennig Explains Why Visceral’s Star Wars Isn’t At E3 2017

Visceral Games’ Amy Hennig and Todd Stashwick explain why their upcoming Star Wars game isn’t being previewed at this year’s E3. Next week, members of the entertainment industry will descend upon the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in downtown Los Angeles for E3, an annual trade fair for the video game industry where publishers go to introduce and show off their upcoming games. This year Star Wars: Battlefront II is the talk of the town, and much of Saturday’s early press conference was devoted to the game that releases this November.

Understandably, a lot of fans were then left wondering what’s the latest on Visceral Games’ own Star Wars video game. The as-yet-untitled project has been in development for over three years now, and all we’ve seen so far is some short in-game footage at 2016’s E3 event. We know it will be set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope with part of it taking place at the Mos Eisley cantina. And a reported release date of 2018 puts it right on track to coincide with next year’s Han Solo movie releasing in May.

This Han Solo connection is important for two reasons. Not only can we expect to see the Han Solo movie take place around the same time as the video game, but Visceral’s Star Wars will also feature a lovable rogue character. Amy Hennig, who previously worked on Uncharted as head writer and creative director, is leading the Visceral team, and she knows a thing or two about creating cocky heroes who mask their foibles with humor. She and co-writer Todd Stashwick (who stars in Syfy’s 12 Monkeys) were asked on Twitter today about what’s the deal with their Star Wars game:

It's #Battlefront2's year - very proud of our friends at DICE and Motive! We're still hard at work on our game, though, have no fear... :)

Hennig is clearly reluctant to give anything away, preferring to promote this year’s Star Wars game, Battlefront II. While it’s true that Visceral’s Star Wars doesn’t release until next year, a little bit more of a tease for the fans would have been nice. However, it’s nice to know that Hennig and her team are still hard at work on the game, and based on her track record everything will come out great no matter how long the wait.

Plus, if the game really is being planned to tie in with Han Solo, they may be waiting to preview more once it gets closer to the release date. There’s also only really enough room for one Star Wars game to take over E3, and giving Battlefront II, which releases this year, its chance to shine is the right way to go. As Stashwick says, the Visceral game will get its own time in the sun eventually, and hopefully it will be at next year’s E3 event in late May or early June.